Welcome to a fig cake recipe featuring no-churn fig ice cream that is sophisticated enough for adults and one that kids would like too. Our chocolate ice cream cake brings together chocolate fudge cake, topped with a vanilla no-churn ice cream swirled with jam made of Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs and the final layer of white chocolate. This is a fig cake for chocolate lovers and a fun dessert for summer celebrations!
How do you make an ice cream cake? Let’s deep dive into each layer.
Looking into the Layers of Ice Cream Fig Cake
First, plan on baking the chocolate cake—and this isn’t just any chocolate cake. What you’ll get is a fudgy chocolate cake that’s rich and is a great foundation upon which to stack on the other layers. You melt chocolate using the double boiler method and then melt chocolate with the sugar and butter until smooth. This gets cooled before whisking in the eggs and finally the flour and salt. Bake and cool the cake.
Meanwhile make the fig jam. You could use Golden Figs, but with all the chocolate incorporated into this dish, we recommend Mission Figs with their deeper, earthy sweetness. The figs cook until soft and are cooled for a few minutes before being processed in a food processor. Chill the jam until using it.
Assembly + No-Churn Ice Cream How-to
Place the cooled chocolate cake into a plastic wrap-lined spring form pan. Whip chilled heavy cream to soft peaks before mixing in condensed milk and vanilla. Finish by whipping to stiff peaks. You’ll spoon half of that vanilla ice cream mixture on top of the chocolate cake to cover it entirely. Then, dollop half the fig jam onto that ice cream layer, through which you will drag a toothpick or knife to swirl the jam into the ice cream. Sprinkle on the chopped figs. Scoop the rest of the vanilla ice cream on top, swirling in the fig jam and chopped dried figs until the pan is full. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze.
The next day, remove the ice cream cake from the pan, discarding the plastic wrap. Make the white chocolate layer by melting the chocolate with coconut oil. Once smooth, you’ll spread the white chocolate all over the top of the frozen cake and let it drip off the sides—dripping is good and pretty too! Quickly sprinkle on the chopped figs because that white chocolate will firm up right away. Before slicing and serving the cake, set it aside to come to room temperature for about 15-20 minutes.
Pro tip: Slicing the cake will be easier if you dip the knife in warm water. Then, dry off the knife. The heat from the water will help you achieve a clean slice. Store the leftover cake slices in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one week.
Chocolate No-Churn Fig Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Fudge Cake:
- 8 ounces dark chocolate chopped
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into tablespoons
- 3 eggs large
- 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
California Fig Jam:
- 8 ounces Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs stems removed
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Vanilla Ice Cream:
- 3 cups heavy cream cold
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- fig jam
- Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs chopped
White Chocolate Topping:
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Set up a double boiler (bain-marie) by filling a sauce pot with 1-inch of water. Bring to a gentle simmer. Place heat safe bowl over pot, making sure bowl does not touch water. Add chopped chocolate, sugar, and butter to bowl. Gently melt together, stirring often to ensure even melting. Once mixture is smooth, remove bowl from double boiler and allow to cool for 8 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, to cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk until each egg is thoroughly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add flour mixture and chocolate chips to cooled chocolate mixture. Fold to combine until there are no longer any dry streaks of flour.
- Transfer batter to prepared cake pan. Bake for 22-25 minutes until center of cake no longer jiggles. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a mini offset spatula or dull knife around the edges of cake pan to unmold. Allow to cool to room temperature on wire rack.
Fig Jam:
- Combine figs, water, and sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pot. Bring mixture to a boil, allow to boil for 2-3 minutes, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes until figs are soft and can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat and let mixture cool for 10 minutes.
- Transfer mixture and lemon juice to a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Puree until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
- Transfer jam to an airtight container and keep chilled in the fridge until ready to use. Jam will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Vanilla Ice Cream and Assembly:
- Line the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch round spring form pan with plastic wrap.
- Place a 9-inch cake board (or round cardboard base cut to fit) inside pan. Place cooled chocolate cake in the center of cake board. Set aside.
- Whip chilled heavy cream to soft peaks. Add in condensed milk and vanilla. Continue to whip to stiff peaks.
- Spoon one-half of the vanilla ice cream mixture into the prepared spring form pan, filling the empty space around chocolate cake to cover the cake entirely. Add one half of fig jam in dollops on top of ice cream. Use a knife, toothpick, or chopstick to swirl jam into ice cream. Sprinkle chopped figs on top.
- Add the rest of the vanilla ice cream followed by fig jam swirl and chopped figs, layering on top until spring form pan is full.
- Cover ice cream cake with plastic wrap. Freeze overnight.
- Unmold ice cream cake from spring form pan and remove all plastic wrap. Set aside.
- Make white chocolate topping: in a small bowl, combine white chocolate chips and coconut oil. Gently melt in the microwave at 10-second intervals at half power until smooth and melted. Stir after each interval.
- Pour and spread white chocolate mixture on the top of ice cream cake, allowing excess to drip off the sides of the cake. Work quickly to sprinkle additional chopped figs on top, as desired–white chocolate will harden immediately.
- Allow ice cream cake to sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.
- To serve: Dip knife in warm water. Wipe off moisture and cut into ice cream cake. The heat from the knife should melt through the white chocolate creating a clean slice. It may take a little effort to cut through the chocolate cake.
- Store any leftover slices covered (preferably in an airtight container) in the freezer for up to one week.
